Northampton begins discussions on funding Department of Public Works improvements

File photo | The RepublicanDirector Edward S. Huntley at the Department of Public Works building on Locust Street.

NORTHAMPTON –The city will begin the process of looking for money to finance a new Department of Public Works facility, but the project is unlikely to begin for at least another year.

The $16.6 million to create a new building for mechanics and other public works personnel and a storage facility for city equipment would probably be financed almost entirely through increased water and sewer fees and the annual Capital Improvements Fund, according to Finance Director Christopher B. Pile. That figure is more than twice the 2006 estimate for the project but much less than the $26 million that Department of Public Works Director Edward S. Huntley says it would cost for a complete overhaul that would include razing the current vehicle barn and building a new garage.

At last Thursday’s City Council meeting, Huntley made a pitch for the $16.6 million version, which would keep the 19th century barn and the Peter McNulty Administrative Building that are there at present. Huntley said the estimate increased so drastically since 2006 because current building codes have gotten stricter, requiring, for example, that a new vehicle barn stand up to earthquakes.

The Department of Public Works complex on Locust Street is the last in a triad of municipal facilities in line for renovation or replacement. The city built a new fire station on Carlon Drive in 1999 and hopes to break ground on a new police station this year.

The maintenance barn at the public works site dates back to 1865 and was once used to house trolley cars. Because of space limitations in the administration building, some engineers have to work out of the antiquated Water Department building on Prospect Street.

Despite the heftier price tag, Huntley told the council the complex must be overhauled for the Department of Public Works to keep pace with the demand for its services.

“Everyone recognizes there’s a true need,” he said Monday. “The question is, how do we afford it?”

Last year, the council approved $800,000 to commission a plan for the facility, although some councilors balked at that cost. With voters approving a $10 million debt exclusion override in 2010 for the police facility, there is little appetite to take on a costly new project. However, Pile said Mayor Mary Clare Higgins believes the city can pay for the public works complex without increasing the tax rate. Under Higgins’ plan, bond payments would come out of the Capital Improvements fund, which the city feeds annually, along with an increase in water and sewer rates.

“It’s open to discussion as we go forward,” Pile said of the financing. “We’re not really at the stage of figuring out how the whole thing will get paid for.”

Even under the rosiest scenario, the project would have to be phased in over several years, with ground-breaking probably not taking place until about 2013.

“The city doesn’t have those kinds of resources,” Pile said.

Should the $16.6 million plan progress, the city could begin looking at the next stage, in which the antiquated trolley barns would come down in favor of a new, environmentally safe structure.